The Clicker Disagrees With His Wife Many people think the life of the online critic is nonstop enjoyment. After all, we get to sit around and tell people our opinions on movies and record fun stuff like the Weekly Blend Audio Show. Sadly, all of that enjoyable stuff is on top of real life duties for most of us. Take me for instance: I’m a full time college student in my last year getting both my degree and my teaching license. On top of that I have a regular job I work in order to pay my mortgage and then I work on Cinema Blend stuff. It’s a busy life, and there’s no way I’d get to watch half the television I want to without that lovely invention: the DVR.

No, this isn’t another column waxing poetic about the joys of TiVo. I think Matt already said it best in this column’s early days. Instead, I’m going to complain about it.

You see, the advent of the DVR made it possible for me to watch whatever shows I wanted to when it was convenient for me. However, it also made it possible for my wife to watch her favorite shows at the times that are convenient for her as well. Needless to say, her favorite shows are not always my favorite shows, and the times that are convenient for her are not always the same for me. That’s how I wind up with situations like last Thursday night, when I came home after a 16-hour day of work, commuting, and classes, to find her camped out watching “Grey’s Anatomy.” It was close to being grounds for divorce (although she did have a nice dinner waiting for me so I forgave her taking up my precious time with a chick show).

While a dinner saved the stability of our marriage, it didn’t totally stave of my frustration. I have to vent somewhere about the junk that now takes up over half of the space on my DVR (I predict the future will lead to both his and hers bathrooms and TiVo units for all couples). What better place to vent then this week’s Clicker?

Shows My Wife Loves That I Can’t Stand

“Bones” - With the new season still warming up I haven’t had time to dislike anything my wife watches from this year yet, so “Bones” is the most recent addition to my hate list. I wanted to like “Bones.” After all, I like David Boreanaz from his “Angel” days. I like Zoey Deschanel, so her sister Emily shouldn’t be too far off from that, right? But if there’s anything we need less than we need another medical drama, it’s another crime drama. They might as well have called this “CSI: Bones” and been done with it as it joins the ranks of the CSI trifecta, “Without a Trace” and the legion of “Law & Order”s on NBC. Just about anywhere you turn these days there’s a doctor or a crime scene investigator, so why should FOX be any different?

“Grey’s Anatomy” - Might as well start with the show I brought up earlier. “Grey’s” has several things going against it: It’s yet another medical show in a world that really doesn’t need that. It’s also virtually a prime time soap opera, which went out of style with “Dallas.” Most of all though, I can’t stand a single character on the show. Who am I supposed to feel empathy for: The adulterous, whiny, narrative Meredith Grey who is so helpless she can’t pull her life together for a single hour? The ditzy blonde who winds up killing the patient she fell in love with? Or the clumsy, overtly “lovable” fellow who is destined to get the girl of his dreams even though he’s still hooking up with other women? Whatever happened to holding a silent (and sexless) vigil for the woman you loved? Sorry, “Grey’s Anatomy” lost me the second it attempted the meaningful intern narration of “Scrubs” without the sense of humor or wisdom the half-hour comedy has managed to maintain for years.

“Desperate Housewives” - While I’m throwing punches at the alphabet network’s soap opera extravaganza I might as well include their Emmy winning series, although the nominations were low this year for a cast that was almost completely recognized last year. Do you know why that is? Because the show’s quality went downhill fast. I liked what “Housewives” started out as: small part soap opera but larger part mystery show. Last year the focus from the mystery all but disappeared (with the resolution pretty much rendering that storyline ridiculous anyway) and instead turned to the “Desperate” part of the title as just about every character faced some form of infidelity. I swear, MTV’s “Undressed” was more realistic than what “Housewives” offered last season, and I’m not confident Marc Cherry’s eminent return will save the show from my disinterest.

“What Not To Wear” - Let me preface this by saying I don’t just hate “What Not To Wear.” I also have strong feelings of animosity towards most of TLC’s reality lineup, including “Dinner Takes All”, “Take Home Chef” or “While You Were Out.” TLC’s entire turn to reality and away from actual learning frustrates me to no end, especially once you realize that once you’ve seen one episode of these shows you’ve seen them all. This person is a slovenly dresser. Enter snarky critical fashion consultant to insult them and offer advice of what they should wear. Repeat ad naseum, which doesn’t take long. The sad thing is that almost none of the show’s dedicated audience would actually want Stacy or Clinton to appear on their doorstep. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, or look through other people’s glass walls.